Interview
A favourite at the Edinburgh Fringe and a vigilant stand-up gigger, Ross Noble has previously admitted to planning entire shows around "about four words on a scrap of paper." It's hardly surprising then, that his foray into television takes a similarly unstructured form. He merges the conventions of spontaneous comedy with the massive network for randomness that social media has to offer. Noble's broadcasting brainchild is Freewheeling; "It's a show that doesn't have a format, we make it up as we go along," he explains.
Canada's Tom Stade is a familiar figure on the live UK comedy scene, having built himself a reputation as one of the most compelling stand-ups around. Combining wit, charm and attitude he really ought to be a household name in all households who appreciate scalpel sharp satire with an adult edge.
Like the real-life person that inspired this fictional version, Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho is something of a phenomenon. This show started off as a small fringe thing and later this month it has a run at the Leicester Square Theatre. It is a catchy all-singing, all-dancing alternative comedy version of the late-PM's time in office that I don't think she ever envisaged – somehow she becomes a gay icon. You will have to buy a ticket to find out how.
Stephen K Amos says in our Rarely Asked Questions feature below that he doesn’t like adjectives before his name so I won't give him one. But if I did it would probably be “brilliant”. Amos is a brilliant comedian who has the ability to strike up an instant rapport with his live audience. I’ve seen him stand in front of a room of strangers and after a few minutes they all seem to be his friends. He can do this whether he is compering or doing his own act.
Comedian Jimeoin is full of surprises. I had always assumed that this brilliant observational comedian who is a superstar in his adopted homeland of Australia, was actually from Northern Ireland. It turns out, however, that he was actually born in England, in Leamington Spa.
I don’t know whether it is because she is busy bringing up a family or spending too much time in her native Australia but we don’t see enough of Sarah Kendall onstage in the UK these days. The 2004 Perrier nominee – remember those? – is back this year with Touchdown, a coming-of-age show about events in her life in 1992. She had been picked for her high school touch rugby team and thought things were looking up, but then things took a turn for the worse, both romantically and dentally…
Helen Lederer is a bit of a comedy legend. She was part of the early 1980s new wave and went on to appear regularly on TV, most famously playing dippy Catriona in Absolutely Fabulous. More recently she has appeared in programmes as diverse as Splash, Old Jack's Boat and Hollyoaks.
Sharon Horgan and Stephen Mangan are pretty much established as two of our favourite comic actors. Horgan is riding high in C4's Catastrophe, Mangan is busy on various projects, including making Birthday for Sky Arts, a spin-off of Pregnant, the play he appeared in in which he plays a pregnant man. This interview dates from 2007 when they were shooting a pilot for a C4 sitcom set in the world of showbiz called Bitter and Twisted, but then changed to Free Agents. It ran for one series and deserved more.
Charmian Hughes is a south London comedian who worked in advertising before going into comedy. Her latest show Raj Rage tells the story of Hughes' recent trip to India in search of some family history, neatly weaving together present and past into one comical whole. She performs Raj Rage at Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival on February 14.
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